Kusanagi | Kusanagi

[vivimancer]

Wasn't Kusanagi the name of the major from Ghost in the Shell?

[Anarook]

Kusanagi is a mythical sword, also despite being named grass cutting sword, it was tied more to wind than life.
A swing of the sword sent cutting gusts of wind.

A sword made to cut grass just... >.> might as well have made a lawnmower.

[Absol]

Wasn't Kusanagi the name of the major from Ghost in the Shell?

Major Motoko Kusanagi. That name is a pseudonym, though, and is roughly the Japanese equivalent of Jane Excalibur.
Kusanagi itself is a sword name, like mentioned in the note.

[ZephyrPhantom]

Spoiler for Grass cutting, eh?:

Well, at least Link's happy.

On a more serious note :

Titan is worth 5 for 7 ATK + Momentum
Morning Star is Worth 5 for 7 ATK + Quintessence
Subtracting spell costs (Momentum 2, Quintessence 4) shows that 7 damage is worth about 1-3 unupped by itself. I would lean more towards 1-2 since Titan also has 50 HP to offset its balance a bit.

Long Sword is 6 damage for 1  .
Upgrades are worth -1 or -2 in cost.
From Longsword we see 6 damage is worth 2-3 .

1.5 + 1.5 (Elemental Cost) = (Other Cost)

3 = 1.5 + 1.5X
X=1
So 6 damage is worth around 1 .

Is +1-2 ATK really worth a upkeep?

[OdinVanguard]

Seems interesting. Compared to Long Sword, the upped version is seems relatively well balanced once the drain amount is pegged down.

I see 2 main issues.
1) The unupped should be a little lower in attack than the upped to make upgrading worthwhile
2) Both unupped and upped should have much lower HP.

Note that for Short Sword and Long Sword the stats are 3|2 and 6|2 respectively. This cards HP (8 and 9) are much to high in comparison. So it will be a bit too strong when animated I think. (at 8 / 9 hp this thing is tougher than most other weapons, and even many of the dragons)

Other than that it would make an interesting addition to life. It keeps with the extra tough critter motif.

Is +1-2 ATK really worth a upkeep?

One thing people are missing here is that the upkeep in some situations is actually a benefit.

For instance, Steal, Crusader, Mind Gate, and PU (for animated / flown) will be much less effective since the user will require quanta to make use of them.

So, in a sense, this weapon has a counter to those spells built into it.

Consider the case of flood (the other card that uses an upkeep for balance). Steal could be used as a destruction mechanism. In that case, the use of the steal card would have their benefit enhanced by the upkeep. In this case, their benefit is detracted from since the card will shorten the length of their use.

[Arum]

Why isn't it a Katana?

[ZephyrPhantom]

For instance, Steal, Crusader, Mind Gate, and PU (for animated / flown) will be much less effective since the user will require quanta to make use of them.

So, in a sense, this weapon has a counter to those spells built into it.

Consider the case of flood (the other card that uses an upkeep for balance). Steal could be used as a destruction mechanism. In that case, the use of the steal card would have their benefit enhanced by the upkeep. In this case, their benefit is detracted from since the card will shorten the length of their use.

I'm honestly not sure how much of a counterbalance such a drain would be:

- Explosion (and SoFo) are more common than Steal, and do not suffer the upkeep. In addition, Darkness users would probably prefer Vampire Dagger instead for healing, and would probably save Steal for something else unless Kusanagi was about to kill them. (Jade Staff can hinder Vamp Dagger damage with healing. Kusanagi cannot.)
- Crusaders would cost to maintain, which does give Kusanagi an advantage over most weapons. However Crusader decks usually run their own weapons and prefer to endow their own weapons instead. (see bottom argument)
- Mindgate would probably also copy pillars before/after copying Kusanagi - if it didn't, then there is no reason to play this card and it becomes a dead draw, just like any other expensive card you mindgate without having a quantum source for it in play.
- TU would probably find better targets on either side of the field. (Six TUs by themselves in a deck usually do not have the power to win games. Animated Kusanagis lack the protection of Morning Star and the high HP of Titan, but the main issue of a kusanagi deck would be the inability to field a 'support' card like Sanctuary or Catapult [Heal and Adrenaline come to mind] due to their continuous upkeep.)

At an initial glance, Life would ideally use this sword for quick damage given it's low cost/ATK ratio.  However the sword quickly counteracts Life's ability to rush with this card by negating two pillars.  There's not much else to this card - even with its higher attack I would rather go for a lategame Druid Staff for mono-healing or a Titan/Morning Star for superior aggression/protection respectively in a duo or more element deck.

[Anarook]

Still don't feel it's properly thematic in my own nit picky way.